When it comes to SEO, using long-tail keywords can be powerful and effective. Find out why using them strategically is important and how to do it.
A strategy that is often overlooked is making content to answer long-tail search queries. It's easy to go for the bigger wins, but focusing on the smaller ones can lead to better results in the long run. In SEO, many times, slow and steady wins.
Search has changed, so talking about keywords might seem like a thing of the past. But long-tail queries have never been more important.
As voice search becomes more popular and more people are used to searching, searches are becoming more conversational. Making content to answer this kind of question can be very helpful.
To get the most out of this strategy, you need to think about how to use it. In this article, I'll talk about some ways to make long-tail queries work better for SEO.
What are long-tail keywords, and why should you use them for SEO?
Long-tail keywords are specific words or phrases that usually convert better. They are usually three to five words long and are searched for less often.
If you don't use long-tail keywords in your strategy, you miss out on a lot of chances. A large-scale study by Ahrefs showed that less than 10 people search for nearly 95% of U.S. search terms every month.
What does "long-tail" mean?
A long-tail SEO strategy is a way to focus on search terms that aren't used as often. This SEO strategy takes advantage of the fact that there is less competition to drive qualified traffic to a website.
Long-tail terms can be very useful because the searcher's intent is usually much clearer when they are used. This gives you a chance to make sure you get traffic that is really valuable and relevant.
9 tips to get the most out of long-tail keywords for SEO
Long-tail keywords can be very powerful and helpful, but it's important to use them in a well-planned and thought-out way.
Here are the best ways I know to make the most of your long-tail opportunities.
1. Start small and build up.
Getting a foothold in a new market is best done with a long-tail keyword strategy.
If you're starting a new site or writing about a new topic, putting the focus of your content on long-tail keyword phrases can help you get seen by the right people.
Long-tail keywords tend to be searched for less often and are very specific. This means that most people who look for them have a very clear goal in mind.
The best way to build your reputation with the right people is to make great content that answers these questions. It's also a great way to get started with SEO and build your rankings around topics that are relevant to your niche.
For example, Amore Coffee, a small company in the UK that rents out coffee machines, uses the long-tail to its advantage.
2. Stay current and make yourself known.
It's important to choose carefully when working with long-tail queries. Don't make content just for the sake of making it.
Choose topics that are very close to your area of expertise or what you're selling. Don't get too far away from your business's main goals.
Make sure you can make content that is very relevant, helpful and adds value. This will help you avoid falling into the trap of taking a "search-engine-first" approach, which Google's helpful content guidelines warn against.
3. Set clear goals
Think about what you want to do with your content before you start making it.
Are you writing a long article that you want to rank well in the search engines?
Is there a featured snippet or People Also Ask (PAA) box you'd like to get for that long-tail phrase?
Would it be more valuable for your business to show up in voice search?
The content you write will depend on what your main goal is.
To get a featured snippet or PAA, your content needs to be factual, short, and to the point.
For your article to have a good overall organic ranking, you'll need to learn a lot about the topic and add your own unique point of view or expertise.
For voice search, you should aim for the featured snippet if one is available for your long-tail search. But if you focus on long-tail keywords, you've already done something to optimize for voice search.
4. Find out as much as you can
Do a lot of research before you get started. Answer the Public, Also Asked, and Answer Socrates are all great keyword research tools that can help you find long-tail keywords.
Tools like Semrush and Ahrefs can help you find long-tail keyword data. Reddit and Quora, which are industry forums, can help you find out more.
Research is the best thing you can do. It gives you more information about how your target audience searches, what topics interest them, and what themes are common within a topic area. Don't skip this step, even if you think the amount of ideas is too much at first.
Do research to come up with long-tail keywords that are important to you and your audience. Building a strong strategy to support your main goals (and back up those valuable short-tail keywords) is much more effective than taking a random approach.
5. Don't worry too much about search traffic.
People often ask, "What about the number of searches?" when they want to target specific long-tail keywords.
It's a tough spot. As an SEO professional, it might not make sense to spend time and energy making content around search queries that don't get any or very few searches, according to keyword research tools.
With a long-tail strategy, you don't have to worry about how many people search for it. It's more important to ask yourself if the question has anything to do with your business and if you can add value to it.
With a long-tail strategy, you can find out exactly what your audience doesn't know and help them find what they're looking for faster.
In his recent Brighton SEO presentation, Mark Williams-Cook talks in depth about zero-volume keywords and why they're important. You can also watch the video that goes with it to learn more.
6. Put your keywords together
Each search term might have a low number of searches. But this is happening for a reason. Most of the time, it's because longer keyword phrases can be typed in a lot of different ways. People might be looking for the same thing, but they might say it in different ways.
Also, a lot of these specific keywords are related to each other and talk about different parts of the same subject. If you're writing a long-form article, you can get more traffic if you cover a lot of long-tail phrases in one detailed resource.
Every piece of content that does well ranks for more than one keyword. Instead of focusing on specific keywords, you should think about the combination of terms you want to use in your content.
7. Group articles that go together
To get the most out of a long-tail strategy, make a series of related articles that each focus on a different group of keywords that are closely related.
Link these articles together to make clear paths from one topic to the next, and build them all around a page that targets your head term.
This method is called "hub-and-spoke" or "pillar page and topic cluster."
Each article has a list of related keywords that can be used as a helpful tool. Linking them together helps search engines put them in context and lets users find information that might be useful to them without leaving your site.
8. Scale up
Targeting just one long-tail term won't make much of a difference. If you want to use this method, you have to think about the long run.
Plan to work on your long-tail strategy every month and make as much high-quality content as your resources will let you. For a small site, this might be one article, but for larger teams, it could be many.
Be steady, organized, and structured. Plan for the future and stick to it.
Ideas, research, making content, and optimizing it should all be ongoing processes. This is a long-term plan, not a way to win quickly. When you work hard every day, it can really pay off.
9. Optimize
Test, figure out, and improve. Once your content is established, you can use Google Search Console data to find out how it ranks for long-tail keywords.
You might come up with phrases you hadn't thought of before. This could give us chances to improve our SEO or add more content.
You'll also find ways to make the content better if it didn't meet your original goals.